Seat grinder



vMaly 6, 1958 L. F. sHEsLER SEAT GRINDER Filed March 23, 1956 www Arroe/va/ United States Patent SEAT GRNDER Laurence F. Sllsler, Yonkers,N. Y.

Aliplictii 23, 1956, Serial No. 573,532 4 claims. (er 51e-241) This invention relates to a r'e'nisher' for valve seats and more particularly, to a renisher for the valve seat in a faucet.

Faucets tendV to leak with the passage of time because of the considerable andcontinued water pressures which wear 'upon the valving arrangement'- provided therefor, more particularly, the relatively thin walled valve seat. Although a leaky faucet can be repairedsimply by grindin'g the irregular and worn valv'eseat toits original smooth state, special equipment and. knowledge is required for the Operation because if the'sle'at not ground properly the faucet -v'vill continue to leak,"pssibl'y even more than before the Vulasuts'cessft1l repair' job. 'One of the chief reasons 'for improper grinding, evenwitti trained personnel, is that it is -diicult to properly align conventional grindingdevicesv with the v'alve se'a't. Moreover, eo'n've'ntional grinders are heavy'tools, hard 'to operate, expensive' t mallllfacfle, aildd'illlllt' t '(ayl ffbl platte O Plac.

Accordingly, it is onerof vvthe:'primary objects of'the present'invention to providea s'falxfev 4seat retienner vwhich can be successfully utilized by'persons having no previous tranne..

Itis another important object' 'of the 'present invention to 'provide a valve seat 'refinisher which'r necessarily mustr properly ali`gn' itself with the valve seat;

It is a further 'object' of the" present invention to provide avait/e seat refinislier which is simple in -structure and inexpensive to make, l j

It is another object 'of the present iliventi'onJ to 'provide a valve seat refinisher which is made of stutdy'but 'light' weight materialsandwhich maybe `readilycarried from place to place. 4

It is still a fu'rtlrer obje'ctto'f the pte/sent' invention to provide a grinding. device wherein` they washer fo'r the valve to berground is utilized vto insure perfect-gifinding.

Briefly stated, theyaIVeSseat reiinisher' of tlie"pe's`en`t invention comprises a yieldable centering member adapted to be securely tted into the interiorly threaded 4portion of a tubular mounting for a faucet closure member, a rod-like support member, the said centering member being slidably and rotatably mounted on said rod-like member, .a washer for the faucet valve seat aiiixed to the said rod at one end thereof, and an abrasive member superposed upon the said washer for engagement with the valve seat.

A fuller understanding of the invention and the manner in which its objectives and advantages may be realized will become Iapparent from the following detailed description thereof taken in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. l is a side elevation of an embodiment of the seat grinder of the present invention shown assembled in working relationship with the lower portion of `a faucet whose wall has been partly broken away;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of a portion of another ernbodiment of the seat grinder of the present invention shown fitted into the interiorly threaded section of the lower portion of a faucet as in Fig. 1;

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Fig. 3 is a side elevation of yet another embodiment of the seat grinder of the present invention shown assembled in working relationship with the lower portion of a faucet whose wall has been partly broken away; and

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the abrasive disc utilized in the seat grinder of the present invention.

Referring now to the drawing and more particularly to Fig. l thereof wherein ,one of the embodiments of the present invention is shown, the seat grinder designated generally by the numeral 10 is shown extending into the tubular body of a faucet 12, the closure member for the said faucet having been removed therefrom.

The yseat grinder consists, in this particular embodiment of the invention, of a rod 14 upon which a centering member 16 made of cork is supported, the said rod passing through an axial bore formed in the centering member 16. The respective diameters of the bore and the rod are Vsuch that the centering member is slidably and rotatably mounted on the said rod.

A handle 1S is rigidly affixed to one end of the rod so that the rod may be gripped as hereinafter explained. The 'rod is threaded at the other end thereof so that pliable' abrasive disc 2t) backed by conventional faucet washer 22 may be aixed thereat by means 'of nut 24. Asfw'ill be hereinafter explained, after the valve seat has been ground smooth, tapered washer 22' will be removed from the grinder and will be actually utilized in association with 'the Valve seat of the assembled faucet.

Centering member 16 may be interchanged with centering' members of varying diameters, the size of the centering member for a particular grinding job being governed' by the diameter of the interiorly threaded section of the faucet. Likewise, the abrasive discs and washers utilized 'are selected' in accordance with the size of the valve seat being reiinished'. In other words, the device of the present invention may be readily utilized for reiinishing' the valve seats 'of faucets of any size simply 'by a mere interchange of the above noted elements. It may be-added` in this connection that the size of the components comprising a faucet are more or less standardizedt In practice, after the valve closure member has been removedr fror'nthe faucet, the `grinding device is inserted therein, as shown in the drawing. Cork '1:6' is then slid dowrith'e ro'duntilit contacts the interiorly threaded portion 26' of the faucet where originally Vthe valve `closure memberhadr'been mounted, and is then lscrewed into the interiorly threaded'pertion 26, lthe threads biting into the cork asvit is.` screwed iny place so that it vis rigidly. and rmlyfheldlinnpiace-when-.fully inserted into portion 26.

Once the cork is inserted as aforesaid, the rod 14 is depressed until abrasive 20 contacts valve seat 28. By rotating rod 14 with abrasive Z0 in contact with the valve seat, the valve seat is accurately and readily ground smooth.

I have found that unusually accurate grinding may be obtained without any difliculty by providing a centering member having a yieldable or compressible composition. In the embodiment of my invention shown in Fig. l, a centering member composed of cork was primarily instrumental in making an unusually delicate and very diflicult grinding operation one that an unskilled individual or even a child could carry out. However, it is not intended to restrict the invention to the utilize.- tion of cork or cork-like centering mem-bers because l have found that similar results may be obtained if the centering member is `of a yieldable and/or compressible nature. Unusually good results, however, have been obtained with centering members of cork or cork-like composition `because when such centering members are inserted within portion 26 of the faucet, the threads located thereat bite into the centering member causing same to follow'the threads and thereby facilitating a perfect alignment of the tool with the seat to insure accurate grinding.

In Figs. 2 and 3, embodiments of the grinde'rare I shown whereinthe centering member is of a rubber or rubber-like composition. In these particular embodiments of the grinding device, rod 14 extends through a threaded sleeve 30, the rubber centering member being mounted upon the said sleeve. In practice, the centering member shown in Fig. 2 is inserted into portion 26 ofthe faucet and by turning winged nut 32 against metal washer 34, the centering member is compressed between members 34 and 36 and thereby expanded to till the grooves `between the `threads of threaded portion 26 thereby being rigidly and firmly held in place in portion 26 and further, following its threads toinsure perfect alignment of abrasive and valve seat.

In Fig. 3, the interiorly threaded bonnet of the faucet is itself utilized to compress the rubber centering memlber as aforesaid. After the removal of the faucet closure member, the grinding tool is assembled with bonnet 38 *as shown in the drawing. The centering member is rst inserted into portion 26 of the faucet and the bonnet slipped over portion 26 and screwed tightlythereupon causing the compression and expansion of the centering member as aforesaid. Rod 14, in this particular embodiment in the form of a crank, is then depressed so that abrasive contacts valve seat 28 and the device is ready for use.

Of course, the invention does not solely reside inthe use of a yieldable and/or compressible centering member but in the utilization of the described combination as a whole, particular` attention being paid to the tapered washer 22 and the positioning thereof, amongst other things.

It thus may be seen that by this invention, a seat grinder has been provided where alignment is of no problem because the grinder is more or less self-aligning permitting untrained and unprofessional persons `to successfully operate same. Moreover, by not requiring a massive and unyieldablecentering member, the weight of the grinder is markedly reduced thereby facilitating the carrying of the grinder from place to place Furthermore, the grinder, as has been seen, is made of readily available and inexpensive parts and can be readily made up by hand.

Although the invention has been described in 'detail with respect to several preferred embodiments thereof,

it will be understood by those skilled in the art, after reading this specilcation, that various changes and modications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claims.

What is -claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A valve seat retinisher for a valve having an in teriorly threaded housing comprising a centering member of yieldable composition, said centering member -being adapted to be compressed by the threads of the interiorly threaded housing so as to mesh with the same when the centering member is expanded in the housing, means associated with said centering member for expanding the same in the housing, a rotatable shaft, the centering member Ibeing slidablyand rotatably mounted yon said shaft, the valve seat end of said shaft being Iadapted to` support abrasive means for refinishing the valve seat.

2. A valve seat relinisher for a valve having an interiorly threaded housing comprising a centering member of yieldable composition, said centering member being `adapted to 'be compressed by the threads of the interiorly threaded housing so as to mesh with the same when the centering member is expanded in the housing, means associated with said centering member for expanding the same in the housing, a rotatable shaft, a sleeve slidably and rotatably mounted on said shaft, said yieldable centering member and the means for expanding the centering member inthe housing being mounted on said sleeve, the valve seat end of said shaft being adapted rto support abrasive means for refinishing the valve seat.

`3. A valve seat relinisher for a valve having an interiorly threaded housingcomprising a centeringmember of yielda'ble composition, said centering member being adapted to be compressed by the threads of the interiorly threaded housing so as to mesh with the same when the centering member is expanded in the housing, means associated with said centering member for expanding the same, said means abutting the exposed edge of the housing when fully depressed so as vto lock the centering member firmly in the housing, a sleeve slidably and rotatably mounted on said shaft, said yieldable centering member 'and themeans for expanding the centering member in the housing being mounted on said sleeve, thevalve seat end of said shaft being adapted to support abrasive means for refinishing the .valve seat.

4. The retnisher according to claim 3 wherein the sleeve is externally threaded and the means for expanding the centering member comprises a wing nut threaded on said sleeve.

l References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS.

2,454,068 Kuhlman Nov. 16, 1948 2,632,984 Kaplan Mar. 31, 1953 2,636,325 Livingston et al. Apr. 28, 1953 

